HEIN MEENS

Period

Genre

Hein Meens

Hein Meen's interpretation of the Evangelist in Bach's St. Matthew Passion has made him nationally famous. He has sung the part more than 250 times: “Each time was a treat. The Evangelist role is a good fit for my voice. To me, Bach is the greatest composer ever.” (Noordhollands Dagblad, ...Full biography

Instruments

dirigent, tenor

Biography Hein Meens

Hein Meen's interpretation of the Evangelist in Bach's St. Matthew Passion has made him nationally famous. He has sung the part more than 250 times: “Each time was a treat. The Evangelist role is a good fit for my voice. To me, Bach is the greatest composer ever.” (Noordhollands Dagblad, March 26, 2009) Meens also sings in many productions of De Nederlandse Opera, the Nationale Reisopera, Opera Zuid and the Flemish Opera. He performs internationally with opera companies in Israel, Italy, France, Germany and New York. He is a singing teacher and oratorio coach at the Amsterdam Conservatory. He also appears regularly as a conductor.

1971

Hein Meens (1949) begins studying the piano and singing at the Maastricht Conservatory. He has singing lessons with Mya Besselink.

1974 - 1977

Hein Meens wins the Toonkunst Vocalistenprijs at the International Vocal Competition in 's-Hertogenbosch, and in 1977 he is awarded the Prix d'Excellence for solo singing and the Prize of the City of Maastricht.

1978

Meens makes his debut at the Opera Forum in Mozart's 'Le nozze di Figaro'. He is awarded the Zilveren Vriendenkrans of the Society of the Friends of the Concertgebouw and the Concertgebouw Orchestra.

1982

Hein Meens sings his first major operatic role as Don Ottavio in Mozart's 'Don Giovanni'. After, he sings various roles in the Netherlands and abroad including Lensky in Tchaikovsky's 'Eugene Onegin', and the title role in Benjamin Britten's 'Albert Herring'. He also often performs in domestic and international radio and television broadcasts and gives frequent master classes. On various occasions he sings the Evangelist part in performances of Bach's 'St. John Passion' with the Choir of the Great Church [St. Nicholas Church] in Monnickendam.

1993 - 1994

Meens performs in New York in Claudio Monteverdi's 'Il ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria'. In the premiere of Peter Schat's opera 'Symposion' he sings the role of the station master.

2002

In March Hein Meens conducts the 'St. Matthew Passion', with the Amsterdam Bach Consort, for the first time.

2005 - 2006

On October 6 Meens conducts the Westerkerk Choir and Orchestra. The following year he guest conducts the Amsterdam Bach Consort in Joseph Haydn's 'The Creation'. He sings the leading part in the opera 'Alzheimer' (2004) by Chiel Meijering.

2012

In the discography you will find all recordings that have been released listed chronologically. We restrict ourselves to the title, the type of audio, year of publication or recording, label, list of guest musicians, plus any comments on the issue.